The invention relates to a high-speed printing machine for use in electronic booking, reservation, or wager transaction systems comprising a plurality of vending stations at different locations for collecting and reproducing the particulars of booking or wager informations and, more particularly, it relates to a high-speed printing machine adapted to operate in a totalisator system such as used in connection with horse-racing, team competitions and the like.
Totalisators as presently known in the art operate with a great number of ticket printing and issuing machines or ticket validating machines comprising means for sensing the significance of perforation marks or notches to be initially formed by the bettor in a blank card and corresponding to the particulars of a selected bet, and means for printing said particulars on a ticket to provide the bettor with a record of the registered bet. However, the known ticket printing and issuing machines as well as the known ticket validating machines do not offer an entirely satisfactory protection against counterfeiting, and the handling of wagers on such complex bet combinations and formulae as a bet on the first three horses of the race, or a bet on a combination of four horses calls for the uttermost speed and reliability of the totalisator system.
One object of this invention is to provide an automatic high-speed printing machine for use in electronic booking or wager transaction systems.
It is another object of the invention to provide automatic recognition of ticket identity and of informations printed thereon to allow automatic payment of winning bets.
It is also an object of this invention to provide an automatic high-speed ticket printing and issuing machine for use in an electronic totalisator system and capable of reproducing any encoded wager informations in a legible and non falsifiable form.
It is a further object of this invention to provide two associated high-speed printing machines for use in connection with an electronic totalisator system, one of said machines being designed for printing and issuing betting tickets, and the other machine being designed for recording and displaying the amount of money to be paid for winning tickets.